CR Blog

The 50 best record sleeves of 2012

There's been a lot of great record sleeve design this year, and Art Vinyl have collected together a shortlist of 50 of the best vinyl artworks in a new exhibition in London.

Art Vinyl are showing 50 of the best sleeve designs of the year, in an exhibition at The St Martins Lane Hotel. In a bit of an X Factor twist, the public are also able to vote for their favourite designs from the shortlist, with a winner announced in January next year.

The exhibition is on until January 13, with the overall winner being announced on January 10. Scroll down to see a selection of our favourite covers from the shortlist.

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CR In print

In our November issue we look at ad agency Wieden + Kennedy in a major feature as it celebrates its 30th anniversary; examine the practice of and a new monograph on M/M (Paris); investigate GOV.UK, the first major project from the Government Digital Service; explore why Kraftwerk appeals so much to designers; and ponder the future of Instagram. Rick Poynor reviews the Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design; Jeremy Leslie takes in a new exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery dedicated to experimental magazine, Aspen; Mark Sinclair explores Birmingham's Ikon Gallery show of work by the late graphic designer, Tony Arefin; while Daniel Benneworth-Gray writes about going freelance; and Michael Evamy looks at new telecommunications brand EE's identity. Plus, subscribers also receive Monograph in which Tim Sumner of tohave-and-tohold.co.uk dips into Preston Polytechnic's ephemera archive to pick out a selection of printed paper retail bags from the 70s and 80s.

The issue also doubles up as the Photography Annual 2012 – our showcase of the best images in commercial photography produced over the last year. The work selected is as strong as ever, with photographs by the likes of Tim Flach (whose image of a hairless chimp adorns the front cover of the issue, above); Nadav Kander (whose shot of actor Mark Rylance is our Photography Annual cover); Martin Usborne; Peter Lippmann; Giles Revell and more.

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5 Comments

LOVE the young magic cover. and matthew dear. album covers are in a good place.James Nelson2012-11-13 12:35:56

the clock opera one is amazing - i want the print of this on my wall!holly meade2012-12-13 11:57:07

Top record covers are consistently chosen based on people's favorite records, rather than the actual record covers. This looks like a list of Creative Review's favorite records of the year.Vic2012-12-14 17:10:09

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